Sidestepper

Sidestepper emerged as the creative vehicle for British producer Richard Blair, who merged a Latin sensibility with the electronic dance music style dominant in the late 1990s to craft a club-oriented hybrid sound. That hybrid stood apart from the repetitive patterns typical of electronic dance music at the time. Blair first developed his affinity for Latin music during his time residing in Colombia. After relocating to the U.K., he drew fresh ideas from the emerging British club environment shaped by DJ-driven electronic dance music releases. Recognizing that few artists were combining the two elements, Blair pursued the fusion himself, first presenting the resulting sound on the Logozo EP in late 1999 before issuing the full-length album More Grip the following year.